The Pavement frontman’s new album is inspired by Berlin nightlife and YouTube tutorials. Is he having a mid-life crisis?

At Coava Coffee Roasters, a hip cafe in a gentrifying neighbourhood in Portland, shelves are made from disused machinery, the handmade bamboo tables are eco-friendly, and the single-origin coffee is served in glass Chemex carafes. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen couldn’t dream up a more stereotypically Portland scene – except for the music on the stereo, which shuffles between brash electropop and dubstep. It’s a strangely fitting place to meet Stephen Malkmus. As the former frontman of 1990s slacker titans Pavement, he’s an icon of indie rock at its scruffiest, yet his new solo album, Groove Denied, is electronic music partly inspired by a stint living in Berlin.

“I’m not known for being groovy,” admits Malkmus, a 52-year-old father of two who looks every bit the middle-aged rocker dad: salt-and-pepper mop top, white shirt, tatty white trainers. “The first song is supposed to sound like you went out clubbing in Berlin and came back and tried to make a song when you were off your head. Or an aural version of one of those pictures of [techno DJ] Ricardo Villalobos where he’s completely trashed.”

‘We used my flat’s rank toilet on the record sleeve with my guitar shoved into it – though I put a plastic bag over it first’

I had read about a dodgy landlord in the South London Press. The drug-dealing, the “phoney prescriptions”, the awful living conditions for his tenants: it was all in the newspaper, even his physical stature. All I had to do was change his name – and I’d turned an awful story into poetry and pop music.

Barrowland Ballroom, GlasgowThe online teen pop sensation makes positive messages about inclusivity, but her voice is too slight to make an impact

The sight of bored, watchful mums and dads trying to melt inconspicuously into the shadows, and tumbleweeds blowing where long bar queues usually form, say everything about the average age of Dorothy “Dodie” Clark’s fans. But the 23-year-old twee-folk ukulele botherer isn’t your average teen-pop sensation – she’s a superstar YouTuber with 2.7 million subscribers.

She opens with two of her newest and best numbers – the faintly Regina Spektor-esque Monster, a prickly break-up song set to a twitchy electronic beat, and Human, a hushed ballad sung as a duet with Tom Walker on record, containing lines such as “unzip your skin and let me have a see”. In all their preening self-absorption, social-media stars tend to make for problematic role models, but Clark uses her platform responsibly to promote positive messages about mental health and inclusivity. During the introduction to Rainbow, the stage lights glow in the colours of the LGBT pride flag.

US rockers and goth indie heroes take main-stage honours alongside Stormzy, while Janet Jackson confirms first UK show in years

The Killers and the Cure have been announced as the final headliners of the 2019 Glastonbury festival. Brandon Flowers’ Vegas band will headline on the Saturday, and Robert Smith and co on the Sunday. They join the previously announced headliner Stormzy, who will close the Pyramid stage on Friday night.

It is the Cure’s fourth time headlining Glastonbury, following slots in 1986, 1990 and 1995. They join Coldplay as the only groups to have headlined the festival four times.

On the 40th anniversary of Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive topping the charts – and as the UK blunders towards its own acrimonious divorce – here’s the definitive list of tear-stained stonkers

Hip-hop isn’t big on romantic heartbreak, but this is a particularly fine example. There’s a lot of bragging from Guru about how he’s so inundated with offers since his ex packed him in that she’s probably jealous. But somehow, you get the sense he’s protesting too much: “Went home to see my mom and I saw you at the bus stop – must I stop? I think not.”